Here's my deal, I haven't been to a public library since I was a little kid. Probably about the time I was 11 or 12 I started buying most of my books. By the time I was spending my own money, I was buying all of my books. Now I go to my school library all the time, but even there I don't check out books. More often than not I am just using online databases or ebooks. But I think things are about to change.
Money is super tight right now and will be at least through graduation in May. After that maybe things will loosen up a bit, but we'll see. For now though, I just don't have the resources to spend all my money on books even if that's what I wish I could do. So I started to rethink my stance on the library.
What do I have against the library really? Well, mostly that I don't get to keep the books even if I love them. It's true that I could always go back and buy the books later if I really wanted to, but at that point I doubt I would read them again. Why buy the book if I know I won't read it? Basically it's to be vain and have it look pretty on my bookshelves... which I don't have right now. So I would want to the book to look pretty on my future bookshelves that I will have when I am finally settled in one place for more than a year. Even to me that sounds crazy. If I love the book and want to reread it then I can go buy it at that point, in which hopefully I will already have my bookshelves.
The benefit of the library? It's free, as long as you return the books on time. Getting to read more books for free, what an awesome idea.
For now things are looking up for the library. I just got a new library card and hopefully will get some use out it in the near future.
Maybe I will completely change my mind about the library, or maybe I will go back to buying books as soon as I have the funds to do so... I'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.
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